1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper magazine having a shaft portion for rotatably supporting a paper roll inside a box-like frame, a paper transporting system configured for pinching a paper drawn out of the paper roll supported on the shaft portion by transport rollers and delivering this paper through an opening formed in the frame, and a transmission mechanism for effecting the delivery and rewinding of the paper through the opening by transmitting a forward drive force and a reverse drive force to the transport rollers and the shaft portion, respectively.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a technique relating to the paper magazine having the above-described construction, paper magazines are known from Japanese Patent Application “Kokai” No. 2002-87650 (paragraphs 0011 through 0022, FIGS. 2-6) and Japanese Patent Application “Kokai” No. 2001-92031 (paragraphs 0023 through 0046, FIGS. 1-3).
The paper magazine disclosed in the former gazette includes a support shaft for supporting a print paper in the form of a roll, a pair of rollers for pinching a portion of the print paper drawn out of the print paper roll and delivering this paper portion through an opening, and a gear transmission system for operably coupling the pair of rollers with the support shaft. In operation, in association with forward rotations of the rollers and the support shaft via the transmission system, the print paper is delivered from the magazine, whereas in association with reverse rotations of the rollers and the support shaft via the system, the print paper is rewound into the magazine.
In the case of the paper magazine disclosed by the latter gazette, a core of a paper roll is supported inside the paper magazine for effecting delivery and rewinding of the paper. More particularly, a delivery roller and a rewinding roller are disposed in a paper clamping relationship with each other. And, a second driver roller rotatable in operative association with the rewinding roller is disposed to be pressed against an outer face of the paper roll. For delivering the paper, the delivering roller is driven in the forward direction, whereby the paper clamped between this forward rotated delivering roller and the rewinding roller is paid out through a paper exit. On the other hand, for rewinding the paper, the rewinding roller is driven in the reverse direction, whereby the paper clamped between the delivering roller and this reversely rotated rewinding roller is rewound through the paper exit and at the same time, the second drive roller is caused to apply a rewinding force to the outer periphery of the paper roll. Further, this document discloses also a photographic processing apparatus including two paper magazines each having the above-described construction, with these magazines being supported on a magazine mount under a posture orienting the paper exit downwardly and a further posture orienting the exit laterally. This photographic processing apparatus is configured to effect exposure, at an image forming section, on a paper delivered from one of the magazines.
As described in the latter gazette, with this type of photographic processing apparatus, paper delivered from the paper magazine is cut to a print size by a cutter and then the exposure operation is effected thereon. Therefore, if the paper once delivered from the paper magazine is to be rewound back into the paper magazine, this rewinding operation is to be effected on the paper having a length same as a distance from the position of the paper magazine to the cutter. When such rewinding operation is to be effected after the terminal end of the paper has been detached from the core of the paper roll, the conventional paper magazines do not take into consideration guiding of the terminal end of the paper during the rewinding operation. Hence, if the rewinding operation is effected after detachment of the terminal end of the paper from the paper roll core, this rewinding operation cannot proceed smoothly as the terminal end of the paper contacts with e.g. a projecting portion inside the paper magazine or the terminal end of the paper may be bent inadvertently.